In The Weeds
by hoodrat things
Summary: Korra is the newest employee to Leechi-ban; Bar and Grill, training to be a server. She must learn this if she ever wants to be a manager. AU! I suck at summaries, may get some makorra down the line.


This is Leechi-ban; Bar and Grill.

The restaurant was in the middle of Republic City, not too far away from Narook's. Though, often over looked by the more popular places, the restaurant was slowly building a name for itself. Slowly.

The staff was compromised by mainly younger occupants of Republic City, from regular citizens and gang members alike. If there were to be a background check held random, Leechi's would lose more than half of their employees. Seriously, they really didn't care who they hired as long as they would work for the minimum wage.

The formality of the restaurant was nothing like Kuang's Cuisine. There were no roses to be seen, no one had to wear stiff uniforms that required bow ties, and the lighting was far from romantic. That being said, though, there were still standards. All front of the house employees had to wear black slacks and crisp white shirts, tucked in. Hair had to be off the shoulders, and no tattoos or piercings allowed. For the back of the house employees, it was black pants of any wear, and the issued white shirts from Leechi-ban.

Oh, and hairnets, everyone got a hairnet back there. It was adorable.

The layout of the eatery was simple enough. Enriched in golds and the deep red colors of the fruit the establishment was named after, the color template was to be inviting and warm. As one would walk in through the front doors and they would be greeted by the hosting staff. If they wanted a seat in the dining area, they were taken right, if they wanted the bar area, they took themselves to the left. Simple, but somehow guests still got themselves turned around ass-backward and lost.

_"Excuse me, where are your –ahem- facilities?"_

"They're right down this hall; just follow the sign that says restroom. Okay, sir?"

Seriously, some people were just not bright.

In the center of the restaurant held the kitchen, of course, and the small corner office of the management team. And in that corner office, the newest member of the Leechi-ban family was being initiated.

She was fresh to Republic City but she wasn't fresh to the restaurant gig. She had been a dishwasher, a line cook, and even a busser. Though more experienced as a dishwasher, she had the most fun on the line, sautéing over a crisp, brash fire. It suited her more, really.

"Alright Korra, since you got the tour on orientation day, I suppose it's time for you to get to your training." The man speaking down to her was the Service Manager, Tenzin. He wore a bright yellow dress shirt with a dark orange tie, his facial hair gave him a hint of intimidation.

The young girl gulped down her anxiety. Though she had held nearly every job class in the industry, Korra had never been a server. She tried once, without any formal training, and failed miserably. She just coulddn't get the hang of it, but she really needed a job and Leechi-ban was the only place hiring and this was the only position available.

Spirits, she was nervous.

"Now, tuck that shirt in. We don't want our guests thinking we don't have traditions and standards.", Tenzin eyed her, sighing, "and next time steam your shirt before coming to work, don't want you looking like a pig-sheep, now."

Korra huffed in anger, biting back the retort that ached to pass through her teeth. "Yes sir.." she half-growled through her forced smile.

Tenzin quirked a brow, nodding for her to follow him despite the obvious attitude she had. They made their way through the kitchen, down the alley. The smell of grilled fish laced her nostrils as she turned to watch a taller guy flip the seafood on the grill. Tenzin also watched, and snorted in disgust, tired of having to dictate standards.

"Mako! Spirits, put on a hairnet, man." He howled out, flicking an accusing finger toward the teenager. "And put on your heat gloves."

"Fine." His response was short and curt, almost like the boy was insulted by Tenzin's slap to the wrist.

The two started walking again as a hand dragged down the bald man's face. Korra half listened to him mutter about teenagers and their rebellious attitudes and love for loud music. She had a feeling shit like this happened a lot. She also had a feeling that working here would be hilarious.

Lost in her thoughts, Korra almost didn't register the swinging door coming her way. When she finally did, it had already smacked her dead in the face. Stumbling through the door gullet first, she barely heard the laughter coming from that guy on line, and a few other stray employees.

She caught the scowl Tenzin shot at her, though. "What? Like I could really control a door! I mean, yeah, no, I totally did that on purpose for a comedic rise." Korra pushed the bangs out of her face with a puff of hot breath, waiting for the manager to respond. Tenzin shook his head, walking away and hoping she'd follow. She did after a brief pause, all the way up to the host stand.

A girl with long flowing black hair turned at the arrival of the two, smiling bright through her luminous green eyes.

"Oh, hey! You must be the new girl," she held out her flawlessly manicured hand, "I'm Asami, what's your name?"

Korra gave a confused look to the outstretched hand, before smiling and grasping it with her own rough appendage. "Korra, nice to meet you Asami."

Asami cooly shrugged her shoulders, dropping her hand. She gestured down to the apron tied around Korra's hips. "Take it you're a server, hmm? Or, well, going to be one." She laughed, "I'm a host if you couldn't tell, the welcoming face of Leechi-ban!"

"Ha, yeah, first day on the floor and all. Pretty excited." Her words were strung out like damp laundry on a line, sticking and flowing abnormally. Asami could tell she was nervous, and dismissed it with a flip of her hair. "You'll do fine, trust me."

Tenzin rushed her away from the host stand without letting Korra thank her new acquaintance.

"Alright, Korra, did you have time to memorize your table numbers last night?"

Shit. No, she didn't study, she went adventuring instead.

"Uh, yeah, sure I did, totally." She lied, almost too blatant.

Tenzin stopped dead in his tracks, his head hung low and even though Korra couldn't see it, she knew he was pinching the bridge of his nose. He turned around slowly, catching her gaze with a twitch to his eye.

"Which table is that?" A finger shot downward, pointing to a booth against the wall.

Korra staggered, her stomach flipping with her nerves. "Uhm, two-hundred… and.. twenty…..six?"

Face-palm.

"No. You're useless until you know your tables." He murmured, almost rolling his eyes. "I suppose for the rest of the morning I will have you follow a busser around until you get the tables down. Come along."

Korra followed behind Tenzin's strangely light steps disappointed with herself. Her eyes watched the back of his heels, not registering that they had stopped moving until she was nose deep in gaudy yellow fabric.

"Excuse me, Korra, I need you to please pay attention and stop eating my shirt. Thank you." Tenzin sighed out.

The girl whipped around, a deep blush lodged onto her cheeks. She scratched at the back of her head as she looked up at Tenzin apologetically. Geez, this first day was going to end her confidence.

"Korra, this is Bolin." She looked up to meet the grinning face of a boy who had to be around her age, or maybe even younger. His smile made her smile wide as she met her blue eyes with his shining green. "Hi, Bolin, I'm Korra."

"Oh yeah, I've heard all about you missy. The scoop is that you and a certain door aren't on the best of terms." Korra blushed, that was literally only five minutes ago. Shit. She was going to be the laughing stock of this freaking restaurant. "Annyywaayyy, It's great to meet you! I'm super excited that I get to have you follow me around, that means more help bussing? Have you ever bussed before? I doubt it, pretty girls usually don't bus tables, probably why you're a server actually-"

Korra cut the excited boy off with a laugh, "Yeah, no, I used to be a busser. This is actually my first serving gig, soo, eh…" she trailed off,staring at the busser with a grin.

Bolin stared, almost amazed, the curl that rested on his forehead bouncing as he spoke again in excitement. "Well, super duper then! Let's get to memorizing them table numbers, shall we?"

"Yeah, definitely!" She pumped her fist in the air, feigning over excitement for something as small as table numbers. It got a laugh from Bolin, which eased her worries of coming off like a bitch. He smiled over at the trainee.

"You're gonna love it here, trust me."

**a/n: **So, off to kind of a rocky start, sorry! I haven't written a fic let alone anything in about two or three years. But, I've been having this idea for a while, and even if it's silly I like it. Haha, so just read and review, and I'll update here within the week (: Hope ya'll like it.


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